The present invention relates to a method for the fabrication of a slide fastener chain with reinforcement tapes at the ends thereof and an apparatus therefor. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus, in the manufacturing process of a slide fastener with a separable end stop, for cutting a slide fastener chain of continuous length with reinforcement tapes at individual space sections into individual slide fastener chains of definite product length having reinforcement tapes at the ends thereof bonded thereto together with removal of extraneous portions of the reinforcement tape.
Many slide fasteners with a separable end stop are provided with reinforcement tapes at both ends thereof. Such reinforcement tapes are made of a thermoplastic film or sheet and adhesively bonded to the space sections of a continuous length slide fastener chain where the carrier tapes have no interlocking elements fastened thereto and the slide fastener of continuous length is subsequently cut at the space sections together with the reinforcement tape into the product length whereby slide fasteners with reinforcement tapes at both ends thereof are obtained. In addition to cutting off of the carrier tapes per se, the extraneous portions of the reinforcement tape out of the edges of the carrier tapes must be removed by cutting.
In the prior art, no convenient and exact method or apparatus is known for the fabrication of the above described slide fasteners with reinforcement tapes at the ends thereof. For example, an apparatus is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 39-17044 according to which the adhesive bonding of the reinforcement tapes to the fastener chain is simultaneously performed with cutting off of the extraneous portions of the reinforcement tapes but the cutting of the fastener chain into individual product length must be carried out separately following the above mentioned bonding of the reinforcement tapes and cutting off of the extraneous portions of the reinforcement tapes resulting in two-step cutting with decreased productivity and also with inexactness of cutting since the fastener chain is not under tension at the moment of cutting.